Week 28 (27/8 - 30/8)

Rightio all you keen and eager readers (yeah, hi Mum ;) ), another entry. This one is a slightly shorter one due to my upcoming holiday. A holiday? Hmm, I wonder what they're like. I almost feel I've forgotten. Anyhow, From tomorrow (31/8) I'll be popping up daily entries (no doubt they'll be short ones, but they'll still be something).

This week started off with a Bank Holiday. A public holiday, how thrilling you may think. Not so for me. A bit of guilt set in (again) and I went into the office and spent the better part of the day working on my PhD. Not sure much was achieved, short of me feeling a bit better (i.e. less guilty - haha).

The rest of the week (Tues - Thurs) was spent trying to preempt things happening at work while I was away. Mucho fun - NOT.

Tuesday - happy birthday Chris! Funny, I only realised today that when she turned 30 (15 years ago) I laughed at how old she was. Now I'm 30...and no longer laughing (nor thinking that it's such an old age ;) ). Maturity? Nah - just not wanting to be old myself - haha.

On Wednesday night Sammy, Fariha and I went out for dinner (meeting Sammy at Charing Cross Road) and then went to see Blood Brothers. Interestingly, I thought I knew the basic storyline of this show...but I knew jack all about it. This was a brilliant show and I'd recommend anyone going to see it if they get a chance. After this, I strolled home. It's quicker to get home by foot from 'Theatreland' (West End) than by tube. Okay, that may not be exactly true, but it's less frustrating for me ;)

I had a shite load of stuff to get through on Thursday at work, but in the end I gave up on some of it and left it for when I get back (not good practice, but there are only so many hours in a day!). The problem was that the morning was filled up with damned meetings, and the afternoon chasing my tail (figuratively speaking - I don't actually have a tail).

Thursday night I went up to Victoria station and met Nicky (she stayed the night at mine before leaving on Friday morning - more convenient). It was good catching up with her again. I couldn't get over the size of the pack she was taking away with her (I'm sure you'd be able to easily get a body or two in it!). Mind you, in her defense, she had just arrived in from a week travelling around the Lakes District and Scotland and was straight into another 10-days of travel. I, on the other hand, was only taking a small backpack with me (that I had to go out and buy especially).

So, yeah, a non-exciting lead-up to a muchly anticipated holiday!

Seeyabye

Week 27 (20/8 - 26/8)

Work-wise, this was just a normal, run-of-the-mill week. Nothing exciting sprung up and surprised me. In saying that, it was Sammy's last week. That was a bit of a bummer. Sammy makes the office a fun place - give her sugar or coffee and she's like a madman - in a good way. Ahh well, the nature of working in an office where they hire millions of temps!

Actually, I lie! Something did jump up and surprise me at work! Things seemed to be going OK - with the exception of forgetting to upload a file onto the Intranet and some shit going down around that (neither here nor there, really). Apparently some students booked a rugby tour around dates on the Intranet - dates that collided with some big exams! I tried to take the blame for this (only natural seeing as how I never uploaded the file), but turns out that there are several variations of the same document (looked after by several different people) and even if I had uploaded it, the other ones would've been wrong. Bloody hell - what a kerfuffle!

Wednesday night we went out for drinks for Sammy's leaving do. Drinks at the Holland Club (the staff pub at work where drinks are mightily cheap) and then off for a meal down by the South Kensington tube station. Only about 6 of us went for the meal, so it was quite good - pretty much "Sammy's Crew", as she likes to refer to us (rude much ;) ). Aidan managed to pop his head in, so it was good to catch up with him again (it'd only been a couple of weeks, but still).

Thursday and Friday were kind of social days around the office - Sammy's last couple of days. Thursday we went out for lunch with her replacement - just to get to know her and show her that there are some fun people in the office ;) Friday we went out again for lunch (hmm, detecting any patterns here?). At lunch on Friday Sammy and I were asked if we missed anything from home. We both agreed that we missed people, but nothing really specific (though Sammy said she missed the beaches). About ten minutes later, I announced that I also missed good service in places - coming moments just after I called a waitress a 'stupid tart' for screwing up our orders (this was on top of them taking nearly an hour to get our meals - most of which were only bowls of wedges!). Not a happy camper then ;)

The weekend saw me veg out in the sun. Read a couple of books and relaxed ('cos my life is just so stressful). So much for spending the long weekend working on my thesis. To be honest, I really couldn't be arsed (or, on the off-chance that Jeff happens to be reading this, then I was extremely busy working hard and missing out on all the brilliant sunshine ;) ).

Seeyabye

Week 26 (13/8 - 19/8)

What a boring start to the week. Monday and Tuesday ended up being the usual, mundane days. I'm being good again and taking in my packed lunches and we're just heading over to the student union (which they call the common room) and vegging on the couches. Have definitely settled into the new role. Seems to be quite easy (Aidan did say it was). Am still fairly bored, but oh well.

Fariha and I went off to see Les Miserables on Wednesday night. Had dinner at an Italian restaurant before going to the show. We thought we had good seats - but they weren't as good as initially thought. They were in the stalls, but along the side, so we had to lean forward and sit on angles to see. It was still good though (I was pleased that I've seen the show before, albeit in Invercargill). I have to say, the Invercargill versions (including the one Nick was in - that I saw on video) were very comparable to the West End version! Kudos to Invers! After the show, I heard this dumbass American woman going on about how the British should stop trying to copy American shows; that the "originals" are always better. She missed the point that this (and The Phantom) are British taken to America (and both are originally based on French novels!). DUMBASS.

Speaking of dumbasses. I jumped on the Picadilly line at Picadilly Circus - went one stop to Green Park and was going to change to the Victoria line to go home, when I realised the Victoria line is closing at 10pm these days. Damn it! I ended up walking home (which wasn't an issue, but I was just annoyed that I used the tube for a distance that I could've just as easily walked!).

On Thursday afternoon we had our "team building" day. The weather wasn't so good, so instead of the picnic in Hyde Park, we had lunch in the office, then had activities (DVDs, salsa dancing, cards, board games etc). The only good thing about the day was that we got to leave early...which I was going to do anyway. After work, I went up to Covent Garden for a drink and to meet my cousin, Julie, and her hubby (first time meeting him; first time seeing Julie in years, too). Had a couple of drinks with them - was good to do the catch up thing again (and keeps our mothers happy ;) haha).

Went to the pub for "a" drink after work on Friday. This ended up being several, before going to an Italian place nearby for dinner (which, unlike normal dinners after the pub, included more alcohol). We decided we wanted a McFlurry, so we walked from South Kensington up to Embankment and then milled around along the Thames.

Pottered around on Saturday - killing time really. In the evening I met up with Eva (old colleague from home) who was in town for the night on her way to Hungary. We went and had a drink and then she went to a salsa party (I went to the venue and waited in the queue with her, but there wasn't any chance of catching me at such a party! ;) ). Was good catching up with her - a reminder that anyone from home is welcome to give me a call if you're in these here parts ;)

Tamara arrived home from a few weeks in Mexico, Belize etc (you know, all those places that only a week or so later were hit by hurricanes!) on Saturday night, so we caught up and spent the day together on Sunday. Nothing exciting. Wandered around Southbank; went into the Tate Modern and had a nose around; went out for dinner. Was good seeing her again (and a great way to spend a Sunday).

Seeyabye

Week 25 (6/8 - 12/8)

Okay - confession time. This week is a blur to me. I can't, for the life of me, recall anything that happened. Something must've, but what??? - nice to know that my memory is in good working order (bah!).

I do, however, recall the weekend (but only because it's just over and I jotted some notes down).

Another weekend with good weather. Not great, but compared to some of the weather we've had, it's been good. I still feel shortchanged. My plan of summer in NZ, summer in the UK, then back to NZ for summer have gone out the window. Not much of a summer in NZ, similar (maybe a bit better) here, and now I'm staying on through winter here! Oh well. I think I'd rather be here than at home - in the sense that at least I have a job here (I guess this is a weak argument seeing how I can't have a job here AND at home too ;) ).

After saying I'm going to buy some new clothes for the last couple of weeks (more like months!), I finally got off my arse and did it. Spent nearly a couple of hundred quid on clothes - but they were muchly needed. It's good to now have jeans that I can wear without the assistance of a belt (my old jeans, whenever I take the belt off, fall down). Even better to know that I've definitely gone down in size! Long may that continue. Along with jeans, I also picked up some shirts, t-shirts, socks, work trousers, and a hoodie. I feel almost human again!

Seeyabye